


Shorties

by orphan_account



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Star Wars Setting, F/F, One Shot Collection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-25
Updated: 2016-05-25
Packaged: 2018-06-08 10:10:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6850471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is to be a more coherent collection of my one-shots. Varying themes, AUs, pairings and warnings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Mors vincit omnia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Got this idea some time last year, when ideas and green-texts like http://deploy.loveisover.me/foolfuuka/boards/u/image/1455/24/1455249602466.png started showing up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is OOC and something I only remembered having planned to write when Dark Souls III was released. With its dystopian lore and hell-bent vision on always scoring a bad end, I thought this would be a great source of inspiration.

_Where am I?_ Thoughts, sensations and air rushed at Yang. On reflex, she huddled closer to the ground, getting her bearings and taking in the fact that she was standing. She then rolled to her side, barely dodging the massive piece of rock that would have smashed her if she'd stayed. On her knees, again trying to make sense of the cacophony in her head, she turns to swipe with her fist against a rock too small to bother dodging. By doing so, she now faces whatever it was that had these stones flung her way.

A field, and in the distance in front of her were some creatures doing their best to demolish a small hill for ammunition. While pondering whatever she was doing in this particular field, Yang sommersaulted while loading and cocking her gauntlets, ending the movement in another crouch while quickly firing away at the ever diminishing hill. Now well aware of her actions being more than just reflexes, Yang tried to stop herself from fulfilling the jump her body seemed to begin, but with no success.

She could not even turn her head without a massive force, like in-between a vice, kept her head trained on her targets in the distance. A distance she now covered fast with a strong jump. As she returned to ground, her body lunged at the targets with powerful strides aided by blasts by her gauntlets behind her. But, just before she got the chance to uppercut the closest of these Ursa, a white mass entered her periphery, clearly taking both Yang and the Ursa by surprise.

* * *

Snow flew in her face, but she didn't feel cold. Yang didn't even feel the snow that she could make out covered the insides of the massive building. Trying, but barely getting them to move, Yang eyed her surroundings. Going by the remains of a thick stone wall to her left and right, along with remains on the roof above her, Yang guessed it had once been something akin to a castle. She had no idea how long it had been since she last had been awake, as she was sure she'd been sleeping dreamlessly. She tried to fight her body as it walked soundlessly through the snow, protesting every joint that worked to her advance towards a massive wooden door few metres in front of her.

The door, along with rest of the building, had seen better days. Despite that it was through its gaps the first signs of life showed. The flickering reds of a fire, low mutterings and crackle of wood.

Yang tried to keep her breath shallow but steady only to notice she did not breathe at all. So, it was with complete silence she moved up to the doors and her arm jerked back before punching the rotten thing in.

Yang had time to take in the terrified looks of the men and women huddling around the small fire before a massive pillar of ice planted itself atop of them.

* * *

Punch, dodge, reload and fire backwards to propel away from the lance-wielder. Yang's arms, legs, torso - all of it, moved on its own in a perfect dance. Fluid like she could never have imagined before, she flickered to and fro her enemy's range. Enough time in one spot to fire away at their back, before she seemingly teleported to another spot to reload and fire again - eating away the target's stamina and aura.

Which, unlike Yang's, did not seem unending. Before Yang could register it, her body had reacted to a failing in the enemy's defence, they took a moment too long to turn and ready themself, and she was above them with both gauntlets ready. Two shots fired, Yang saw the stray bullets pass through their aura before biting into the soft flesh of their unguarded shoulder, stunning them just enough for a flicker of white to swoop in from the side and pierce them.

* * *

 It was dark, yet Yang could make out perfectly the distraught face of her former teammate. She saw the tears flow down her cheeks, her heavy shaking as she lifted her hands - but not touching Yang.

"W-what? How, what happened to you?" Yang's body did not move, nor did it reply. The girl's dark form, with her brow making a distinct contour towards the night sky, shook as she slowly moved closer.

"We, everyone, thought you were dead!" _Ah, her name's Blake_. It had taken Yang a disturbing long moment to recall the girl's name. She had known they had been close when Yang suddenly saw her in this alleyway, getting the poor girl to jump in fright. However, Yang's body would not let her reply, to tell her. It just stood there, unmoving.

"Why, are you okay? Y-you're blue, Yang, please!" The girl named Blake now stood as close as she'd dare without touching Yang, hands still shaking as they traced Yang's form.

Behind Blake, slowly moving closer along the wall to Yang's right was another teammate. All dressed in white, Yang had her name on the tip of her tongue.

"Please, Yang, say something? Are you hurt?" Blake kept asking Yang questions, but knowing she couldn't answer, Yang focused instead on the enclosing shape of the girl in white.

Blake seemed to recall something, and shuddered backwards, unintentionally getting closer to the girl in white to keep her from Yang's sight.

"No, you...you're her summon, aren't you? She, no, it can't-" Before Blake got to turn around, hand against her mouth in shock, the girl in white struck. A rapier Yang knew should be white was doused in red, its inherent glow making it clear it was coated as it glide through Blake's chest.

Ah, Weiss, that's her name. Yang recalled as the rapier withdrew and she again returned to sleep.


	2. Crosshares in Spaaaaace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the war-ridden era of the Old Republic, we got Crosshares.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one I've had in my notepad for well over a year, but never got anywhere. Came about when I re-read the Darth Bane-trilogy.

Three days. Three Galactic Standard Days of complete silence. That is to say, three days too many of silence. For years Coco had gotten a message on her encrypted console, perfectly on time and without any delays or excuses.

So, it'd be an understatement to call this disturbing - it was a major breakdown of the system she and her unseen compatriot had developed.

Her part, in what she knew to be a long line of agents and hidden operators, was to gather the few travellers who happened upon her boutique asking for a long-ended line of shawls and offer them accommodation until her contact sent her details where to send them next.

Luckily, the once steady flow of travellers had shrunk to a sporadic trickle, but she still had one girl waiting for directions living in a hidden compartment in her parlour.

The girl, some offshoot near-human, had barely said a word to Coco beyond the agreed upon phrase. Like Coco's spouse, she sported an extended set of hearing appendages atop her head, but that's where the similarities ended. Where Velvet, her spouse, was bubbly and kind this girl was silent and almost brooding. So, fighting her nature to engage in some conversation with her 'guests', Coco had decided to let this girl be.

Until this morning. Coco hadn't given a date to the girl for when she'd be able to leave, but it felt wrong to keep informing her it'd be "soon" well after the set date she did know. So, as she lay in bed with her wife stirring beside her, she wondered how to break it to the girl downstairs that something was awry.

How does one inform a **willing** recruit to the Sith army that she'd probably not be able to?

Rolling, facing her wife who slowly woke up with soft murmurs, she kept pondering. Neither Coco or Velvet kid themselves of the nature of the army they (covertly) supported. She might not have met one herself, but she knew they filled their ranks with more unwilling recruits than willing like the one downstairs. Yet, she had no moral qualms with being a cog in a massive machine for the army as she did not force anyone to join. It was their choice, and nothing the meddlesome Republic said would affect her.

Herself originally from the home of the Republic, Coruscant - the most influential city-planet there ever was, had little trust in those heralding the virtues of the Republic. High-born, with family ties to several important seats of power not only on the planet, but throughout its systems, she had seen enough corruption and nepotism to fuel her spite lifetimes to come. The war between the Republic and the Sith had begun well before Coco sided with the insurgents, and it had been a final act of a moral choice of the lesser of two evils.

Coco extended an arm to languidly scratch at the base of her wife's extended set of ears, eliciting a pleased sigh. Coco's eyes drifted away from her wife's face towards the soft hill her stomach made underneath the blanket. With an addition to their small family incoming, perhaps an incoming end to the conflict wasn't so bad.

"What are you thinking about?" Caught scratching her wife's ears and her musings, her voice brought her back to the bed.

"I should say you, but for once I wasn't." Velvet took Coco's hand with one of hers, and nibbled on it in revenge.

Continuing with a grin, Coco said "It's been silent for too long, I think we got problem".

Content with her tasting, Velvet turned to face Coco as well but kept her hand close.

"Maybe all the news had some truth to them." Velvet replied and rubbed a thumb over Coco's knuckles.

Even without her (overpaid) tutelage, Coco knew that Truth was the first victim in any conflict, and in a conflict this big - it stayed dead. So, she had taken the optimistic reports of the Republic's advances on HoloNet for poorly hidden propaganda from the desperate military chiefs on Coruscant. But, there was no denying the fact that her contact on the other side was silent. She might be cynical of the Republic, but she was no fool.

Coco weaved her fingers with her wife's, again returning to her thoughts.

 

Another week passed, thus making it 10 days since she expected a message and also seven days since she had told her overdue tenant the truth.

As Coco hadn't heard anything on the local channels of HoloNet about an illegal alien rummaging through her city, she expected the girl had stayed out of trouble. Ever since the morning she had told the girl that this was the end of her trip to join the Sith cause, the news from the front had gotten steadily worse (for their side).

The larger channels reported fantastical successes for the Republic troops, of entire planets 'liberated' in less than a day's time. The deeper one went however, the grimmer this victory turned. Rumours of entire legions of the Republic's almost fervently revered Jedi had died. A thrust from the last remains of the Sith had taken out not only their own leaders, but also the enemy's. Then there were the reports about prison camps of Sith troops suddenly emptied, with no sign of its former inhabitants. Short messages barely readable about Republic troops leaving planets more barren than they arrived, of armadas quickly regrouping and returning to the The Core when systems reported pirate attacks.

None of that surprised Coco, and as she leaned against the massive table-display showing her own and others designs she pondered anew.

With the Republic returning home, to lick its wounds and recover their (economical) losses, they would intensify their efforts to root out their enemies' supporters. First would be the outspoken neutralists on Coruscant, a few having already begun their self-imposed exiles. After that they would follow the trail of credit through the Galaxy, repossessing and recovering what they could find. In the end however, it would be the likes of Coco that would end up on a list and shortly thereafter finding themselves in a cell with the keycard lost.

With one finger hitting the reactive display, constantly entering and exiting the description page of a dress, Coco considered her options. They could stay and wait out the wave that (probably) would hit them when they turned their backs. They could hide, the Outer Rim would literally be the last stop for the inquisitive forces to come after them. Her finger stopped as she considered her third option.

* * *

On a planet considered almost on par with the Republic gem Alderaan's aesthetics, it was a shame that Weiss did not enjoy it more.

As the youngest daughter of the planet's wealthiest merchant family (and, as politically influential as well) she could travel the whole planet and with ease find a spot she could heartily enjoy. Yet, tour after tour she had arranged had only resulted in a lake being acquired in the family's name. And it was to be a cool retreat for the peak of heat period lasting two of the planet's 14 Galactic Standard months.

So, as she sat overlooking her family's estate from one of several spindly balconies attached to the main building, she thought the long and flowing garments of the two visitors being lead through a massive garden looked unfit for the weather.

Dressed in a white dress with minute therm-pads sewn into them for automatic temperature control and long sleeves to keep the cool herself, Weiss wondered what the two overdressed visitors thought of this wet heat. Still keeping an eye on the curious pair, she noticed they were being lead to her parents' study - instead of the visitors' chambers in the main building where they would wait for whoever they wished to meet.

Dryly, she observed that they clearly were no guests of her or the family as a whole, seeing how she had not been informed. Boredom coupled with certain influx of curiosity had Weiss leave her balcony and chilled drinks.

On her way though the many hidden shortcuts down to the stand-alone study that was her destination, she mentally listed the few individuals close enough to the estate **and** influential enough to visit her parents uninvited. It was a short list and one Weiss grew all the more interested in correcting.

Weiss, and her older sister Winter, had both been rigorously trained in how and where to find the shortcuts throughout the estate from a young age. The planet, not being attached to neither the Republic or insurgency was faced with danger on both sides. Never mind the constant threat of rivalling planets that wanted the trade routes or natural resources it harboured. So, it took Weiss less than ten minutes until she exited through a blast-door camouflaged as a book case on the second level of the open space that was her parents' study. She nodded to the nondescript droid posted to her right, at a turn close to the stairs and turbo lift leading down. She had no intentions of letting the visitors know of her being there, but her mother that she heard from below had gotten an automatic notification from the droid. It however did not stop her, as she welcomed the two guests to be seated on one of the many sofas in the middle of the ground floor. The walls were lined with artefacts, both genuine, intentional and most likely unintentional fakes. Most originated from this planet, its now long-gone native cultures and some heirlooms the family had gathered throughout the decades.

With a flourish, her mother took seat on a couch of her own, facing the guests who Weiss now could identify as two humanoid females.

One, most likely the one of the two that actually knew her parents, was dressed in a set of loosely tied fabrics that made out a dress turning darker towards her feet. It seemed to change colour, but never straying from brown, as she moved and it was clear she knew that as every action was delicate and calculated. The hair on her head was dark, possibly brown, and cut short to frame her face and its starkest feature.

A set of googles, or possibly lenses, which Weiss hadn't seen on a living person throughout all her life. Most who had a born visual deficiency had it adjusted (and more likely enhanced) well before it manifested in the need for external lenses. So, clearly an eccentric, Weiss concluded the woman to be. To the eccentric's side, also dressed in a dress albeit a more moderate and light-coloured one, was a near-human. Going by the tall extensions on her head (possibly second set of ears?) Weiss knew for certain she had no idea who the two were.

Humanoids of all shapes and other species had visited her family, either dignitaries or representatives from any party interested in their favour, but the odd pair below was a new acquaintance for Weiss.

Beyond her mother's commanding voice, she couldn't make out the discussion clearly enough to know fully what the pair wanted, but in the end her mother agreed to sort out papers and documentation for the two to move to Coruscant. More specifically, leaving no records of the two ever being here. Her mother scoffed at the pair's surprised questions to the ease she promised to sort it out, and explained she could file the transfer as asylum and cover anything left behind as Republic war effort and in so having it classified.

That seemed to amuse the trio, who then took to toast to the successful efforts of the Republic.

Weiss left before the glasses sung in a toast. She knew her parents despised the Republic as governing factor and only tolerated them due to the lucrative deals they maintained thanks to the trade route. They, however, had never spoken a word in support of the insurgency but Weiss was sure that all that she now left behind had been in their favour.

 

It was a few years later that Weiss was reminded of this instance of her mother supporting the now long-gone insurgency.

Yet another wet and warm day turning into even wetter evening, Weiss had made herself a corner for her own studies in her parents' study and jolted from her plushy mountain. She considered calling out to whoever entered the study's ground floor, but the two whispering voices kept her silent.

One she recognised as her father, as his tone for whispering differed little from his speaking. Same went for his volume. The other's however, she did not recognise at all and going by the most formal choice of words the two exchanged, neither did her father.

"Yes, my oh my, it **is** a spectacular collection indeed." The unknown visitor said, congratulating her father.

"It is, and more diverse than any you can find in this and any sector around here." Weiss could picture her father downstairs, proudly showing off one of many smaller cabinets filled with items he most likely had no idea what it was.

"By just a glance I can see that you speak the truth, good sir. And diverse is what I seek." Now Weiss' father took a more aggressive tone, clearly not expecting the visitor to hold any intentions beyond viewing this collection.

"That search can turn shorter than you expect - what is here will remain here." The visitor tries to appease her father, and carefully replies.

"No, good sir, I have none nor had any intention of in some way from you appropriate these items - as I offered at first, my wish is simply to match and together shape a collection for the two of us." Here the visitor cleared their throat before continuing.

"But, now that we're certain of the words spoken here will not be heard by others, I may have to correct myself. I do represent a third party, for whom I gather the most wondrous artefacts that, I dare say, even you may lack."

Weiss father remained silent, and the visitor took it as a cue to keep on.

"However, as with all things dare to heart and spirit, the rarer the higher the cost and fewer to understand. That's why I only now brought up my...partner." Weiss noticed the distinct pause, but knowing her father she could not attest to him doing the same.

"That is true, but an advantage to my stature is the inherent respect. Few would dare bother me with their small-minded interjections." Huffing, Weiss' father revelled in the fact. Weiss clearly heard the smile in the visitor's voice as they replied.

"Then, indeed, I do believe that together we can make a collection greater than all."

Weiss remained silent during the whole discussion, which seemed to shape up a triad of individuals collecting items clearly illegal and hunted in Republic space. A triad Weiss had no intention of letting work undisturbed.

It now being clear as it could get, Weiss knew her parents supported the former insurgency as well as powerful anti-Republican powers. And, knowing how powers like that would escalate at an alarming rate, she knew that either she'd stop her parents or inform the Republic.


End file.
